Therapeutic Drug Mornitoring: Perception among Health-care Workers in a Developing Tertiary Institution

Abstract

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a pharmacologic approach that is essential in therapy. It can be used in assessing the levels of drugs in a biological system. This study assessed the perception of TDM among health-care workers in a developing institution. To assess the perception of TDM among health workers in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire were distributed randomly among health-care workers after obtaining ethical approval from the institution. Among the three hundred and eighty-two respondents that participated in the study, the male/female ratio was 1: 1.5. The health-care workers were Doctors 162 (42.41 %), Pharmacists 81 (21.20%), Nurses 116(30.37%) and Laboratory scientists 23(6. 02%). Three hundred and seventy-six (98.43%) respondents claimed to be aware of TDM, of which 247(56.26%) respondents sourced their information from pharmacists. Respondents 335(75. 79%) suggested TDM for all patients. All drugs were strongly recommended to be therapeutically monitored by 391 (76.67%) respondents. Monitoring time interval was suggested by 167(27.60%) respondents on hourly bases. Two hundred and fifty-nine (46.50%) respondents agreed that all biological samples should be routinely assessed. High Performance Liquid Chromatography was mostly recommended. Respondents 361 (94.50%) agreed that the approach will be useful in assessing pharmacokinetic and pharmaco-dynamic variation of drugs in patients. The principle was recommended for patients with chronic diseases by 339 (51.36%) respondents. Due to the general awareness of TDM, it is therefore recommended that adequate structures should be put in place to enhance the outcome of therapy among patients.

Keywords: Therapeutic drug monitoring; health-workers; perception